Jane Bunnett & Maqueque

“A Band of young killer female musicians that play like seasoned veterans.” - Downbeat
“Jane Bunnett and Maqueque... utterly shatters the glass ceiling of Afro Cuban Jazz" - Boston Globe

Best Group Jazz Album of the Year – Juno Awards

Saxophonist Jane Bunnett’s “Spirits of Havana,” the landmark 1993 album that brought together North American and Cuban musicians in Havana, preceded Buena Vista Social Club by three years. With her all-female sextet, Maqueque, whose self-titled debut recently won a Juno (the Canadian Grammy) for Best Group Jazz Album of the Year, Jane is breaking new ground yet again. The name of the group means “the energy of a young girl’s spirit,” and with four of its members still in their early twenties, this is a band with energy to spare. That spirit is manifested through propulsive montuno improvisations, call and response numbers and ivory-tickling piano features, as might be expected, but also on a stirring cover of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone.” Maqueque (pronounced Mah-Keh-Keh) includes Canadian Jane Bunnet (saxophone) and Cuban musicians Yissy Garcia (drums) Melvis Santa (percussion and vocals) Dánae Olano (piano) Magdelys Savigne (batá drums and congas) Celia Jiménez (bass)